What have you been doing since finishing your course in 2021?

I am a production assistant for Story Film and Photography. I do a bit of everything, which is great fun. I find music and sound for our video projects, do social media, and work with contributors and clients to make sure we can keep projects going.

I go on shoots as well, which is just amazing. I’m not much of an early bird, and I’ve never been able to get up so early and be so excited at the same time. I love being there and love every minute of it. This really is my dream job. 

Of my friendship group, we’ve all gone into different parts of the media industry. One of them works for Heart Radio and landed her dream job straight out of Uni – one of our lecturers helped her get that job and put her forward for that position. She loves that job so much, she never stops talking about it - and I don’t blame her either. Another is a camera operator, and another works in the education sector but with a focus on the media.

How do you think your time at Leeds Beckett helped you develop as a person?

All of my lecturers were very supportive in their own ways. Some were more supportive emotionally, and then others really tried to challenge you and push you further – I think this was a very good balance. 

They challenged our opinions, to push us to get more information and to really think about what we were processing in our heads. They pushed us to be able to form great ideas and better opinions, to take a wider perspective and really root down on why we thought what we did. 

They always went above and beyond in engaging us with projects outside, extracurricular projects. We have a chat group for all the course alumni, and they’re really good at listing opportunities for jobs or to volunteer. No matter where you are in life you’re part of the course.

It’s like we have our own mini-LinkedIn within the Broadcast Media Technologies course. I found this job due to the chat – one of my friends found it and sent me the link. It was so much better than going into a bar job or something unrelated to what I want to do.

The course gave me a lot of confidence – I think confidence is a big thing. Confidence in being able to understand when to talk, when to hold back, and when to realise you’ve made a mistake and take ownership of that mistake. It helped me understand why I should own up to problems, and put forward plans for how I was going to improve on that, to use it as a learning experience. 

Making mistakes is how you learn. At university, when you start at eighteen you don’t realise how you are, when you’ve gone from living in your parents’ house where your cooking and washing is done for you, and you’ve got the heating on, the electricity and the utilities all sorted out. 

And then you’ve been thrown into this place where you’re on your own, and it’s all very exciting, but you’ve got to pay to use a washing machine in student accommodation, and when you move into a house you have to sort out your utilities and everything like that. 

I think there are so many things that university has educated me in – in academic ways, but also in my political views and being more aware of things going on in the wider world. I went from living in a small town to coming to live in a big city, and you’re able to meet so many different people from so many different cultures. 

I think university gives you the space to develop yourself as a person, as well as giving you the technical skills to go into a job you love.

What advice would you give to people considering doing Broadcast Media Technologies at Leeds Beckett?

Looking back on my university experience I wouldn’t change it for the world. Some of the best and some of the hardest times of my life were in those three years. It does push you, it’s some of the hardest parts of your education. You have to be pushed to test whether or not you are worth your degree, whether you’re able to spend your time and show enough dedication to do well.

If someone was starting out on my course now, I would say not to be scared or intimidated by the whole situation. University gives you an opportunity to be who you want to be. You need to forget what you thought were important things when you were younger, like popularity, and embrace the fact that you get to be in this whole new city. 

I’d tell future students to talk to everyone on your course. On the first day we were all in a room and they set the space for us to meet everyone, and you go around and talk to people but you feel nervous because it’s so out of your comfort zone. So, in my head, I pushed all of my feelings of anxiety and nervousness out of the way and just spoke to people. 

When you make friends with people on your course, you don’t just get good friends. Now I have a network of people I know in the media, and the connections to work on projects with people in different fields. I have friends who work in radio, and on cameras.